Back on the Table

The Walt Disney Marathon is an insanely popular marathon that takes you around the Walt Disney Resort property and is the only RunDisney race where you run through all 4 theme parks. I’ve run the full marathon (plus a couple of Disney Princess Half Marathons and a 10k) and can attest that, yes, running through the parks is AMAZING. However, all of the parks combined comes to a total of roughly 6 miles of the course. The marathon is 26.2 miles. It’s not hard to do the math – that’s a LOT of miles where you’re running the back roads of Disney property and are not in a park.

Disney does a great job filling in the extended gaps with entertainment, volunteers, and even fun behind-the-scences sneak peeks at what makes Disney work (like taking the course past the first department, water plants, etc.), but even I’ll admit it gets pretty boring. The very long stretches between the start and Magic Kingdom and Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom were particularly the worst. Miles and miles of nothin’.

It was the long patches of nothingness that have turned a lot of people away from the Disney marathon, or stopped them from returning. I get it – marathons are tough, and miles of just open road and trees surely doesn’t help. However, the course had been that way for YEARS and that’s just the way it was.

Until now.

Looks like for their 20th Anniversary, RunDisney decided to step it up and make a few changes to the course. The changes are very significant because it means less miles between things of interest (and less increments on backroads), and more time running by cool things. It makes me wonder why they didn’t do this sooner?

Here’s a couple of key points to the course:

Runners will head straight to Magic Kingdom and reach Cinderella’s castle about 5 miles sooner than before.

Runners will complete half a lap of the speedway as part of the course.

Runners will run around the Wide World of Sports complex, including a lap on the baseball field

The start and finish locations are still the same and the paths through each of the parks are still the same (though I was hoping for an extended loop into the new Fantasyland). It looks like the largest part taken away was the wrap around Epcot at the start of the race, everything else was just an added addition. They simply broke up the runs on the backroads with new experiences to keep runners interested. Genius.

Something else I noticed. RunDisney has been advertising a “big surprise” at mile 20 for the 20th anniversary race, which has been highlighted on the map below in the space between mile 19 and 20.

Do you see the side-map that illustrates the defined path around the Wide World of Sports from 19 through 20?

Looks like that the “big surprise” is about the same time runners will be circling the baseball field. Hmm…. interesting. Very interesting. I wonder what it is?

I wasn’t expecting this at all. Way to go RunDisney for keeping us on our toes. I’d given up the idea of running the full marathon since it’s a week after my wedding and I wasn’t sure I could train for it, but now I’m torn. Especially since my sister (who swore up and down she would never run the Disney full marathon again), just texted me and said she was “thinking about it.” Like I said, well done Disney, way to make a couple of runners who weren’t interested, suddenly interested. That new course is tempting. Very tempting.

So now the Disney Marathon has been put back on the list as a “maybe” for 2013. I’m still not sold, but I’m definitely considering it. It doesn’t take much to win me back. 🙂

What are your thoughts on the new Walt Disney World Marathon course?

You know you’re a runner when you get THAT excited about a marathon course. Ha! To be fair, Derek goes off on the same tangents when a new iPhone release has been made. He gave me the same blank stare about the marathon stuff as I gave him about the iPhone stuff. At least we each have hobbies. 🙂

Lunch today was a bowl of random odds and ends from the fridge.

I reheated a leftover baked sweet potato with hummus and cheese, then topped it with olives and leftover roasted cauliflower.

Say what you will, this dish was good. I’m not sure I’ve had hummus on a baked sweet potato before, but it works. I think hummus works on everything – it’s the universal condiment.

I thrilled for the new course. And I have NO idea…honestly..what the surprise is…although I work for Disney. But if it’s close to the ballpark it may be something fun with the jumbotron there like they do at DisneyLand?

I had already signed up for this but now I am THAT much more excited! Plus we are staying in the Little Mermaid rooms in the new hotel… I don’t want to rush the year but I do want to be back in Disney! They are tricky at getting people lured back in, that is for sure! Especially since I said I was done with Disney races after the 1/2 in January but within two weeks was wanting to be back 🙂Kinley @ Better Off Barefoot recently posted..In a Perfect World.

Wow, this sounds seriously amazing! I’ve been pretty determined that I’m not doing my first full until my son is a little bit older (and I have a little more time to rest up for long runs), but dang, they certainly do make it sound like fun!Diane @ DixieJulep recently posted..Guinness Floats

I’m doing the Goofy challenge and the half will be my first Disney run ever!! I’m excited about the marathon course change because I get bored easily and was worried how I’d do running on long stretches of highwayLindsay @ Running the Windy City recently posted..Date Night {Belly Shack}

Very interesting. I would love to do the Disney Marathon … I think I might have to try to convince my hubby to run it with me. 😉Kristen @ notsodomesticated recently posted..Completely worth spoiling my lunch.

I really want to run this race, especially with the new course, but right now it doesn’t look like we are going to be able to swing it. We are also working on some other goals that don’t mix well with marathon training. I am keeping my eye on race and may end up doing it after all.Heather recently posted..Historic Half Training Week 11

I would love to run this and it’s always been on my list…I have no idea why though, I’m not really a Disney person and it will be hard to try to explain to my husband why I’d want to go there when we’ve declined 2 trips with his side of family over the past two years…maybe I can convince them to go in January and then spring the whole marathon thing on them…hmm…probably not! 🙂abbi recently posted..May Days

I’ve only run Wine and Dine and it was SOOO crowded that I said I’d never do another Disney race. Then I registered for the Tower of Terror 10 miler, so that’s out the window. I think the only thing that interests me about the Disney marathon is it’s the only one so close to home. Like, finally a race I don’t have to freakin’ travel for, ya know? Ok, and that mile 20 has me interested. 🙂

I registered for WDW marathon #3 on the day registration opened, and I was hoping for a little more Fantasyland action, myself, but I think this might be better! Soooooo excited! As I posted when I shared the video of the new course on Facebook: Eeeeeeeeeeeep! 🙂

Thats awesome that they changed the route. My friend ran it two years ago and told me that she heard that Disney received alot of complaints re the course and there was a rumor that it was going to change. I was thinking about doing Disney as my first marathon but now that they changed the route plus a 20 mile spetcular looks like I’ll be running Disney as my first!

I still think it looks really boring. Maybe if it didn’t cost twice as much as other races that are twice as interesting and less crowded I would be more intrigued! I know I technically could save money by racing here — but the Jacksonville Bank Marathon is only an hour and a half away and costs $80 on RACE DAY! Disney kills me with their prices.

i hope you decide to go for it!!! i am signed up for the goofy, first time i will be doing the disney marathon, so i would be pretty excited regardless of the course changes! that being said, the inclusion of the wide world of sports complex makes me pretty excited!cathy@1970kikiproject recently posted..upgrade update

IM running it, too! It will be my first time! I registered as soon as registration opened. I’ve heard mixed reviews, some people I know hated it, some loved it…we’ll see! So exciting that you’re running too!Briana recently posted..Running for syrup

OMG so funny you posted about this today because I am absolutely contemplating this race, as a super huge Disney fan! I have a rough few weeks coming up, so I’ll have to see during the summer how I’m feeling, and it I want to spend the money going there, but I think it could be fun! And my husband has never been to Disney, so there’s another reason right there 😉 can’t wait to read about what you decide! Thanks for the insider view on Disney 🙂Dominique recently posted..No more excuses!

Oh man now after watching that video I’m itching to run the full haha. I ran the half 2 years ago and really enjoyed it but was always weary of the full because of the amount of service roads involved. Looks like I might be making a trip to Disney hahah

One of my coworkers and I were chatting about this yesterday. I actually just forwarded her this post, because she was thinking about all of the twists and turns in the WWS, and kind of uncomfortable with them, maybe you are on to something!Emily N recently posted..Hill Sprints

I just saw this come out yesterday too! It definitely looks intriguing. I’m signed up for the half marathon (it’s just after my wedding and I know there is ZERO chance a full is going to happen), but the course definitely looks awesome!Stephanie @ My Freckled Life recently posted..Warning: Shopping while hungry

I am definitely running the Disney Marathon this year. I checked out the course last night and I’m really excited about it. I like the idea of hitting the castle earlier, that way we’ll all look far less disheveled for the all-important in-front-of-the-castle photo op! Priorities here.Cait @ Cait Strides recently posted..Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s tempting… and I *do* like the perks of access to the park restrooms while running. But those shadeless highways were so brutal during my first marathon. I’m going to keep thinking about it, but I’m still leaning towards ING Miami instead. Now that’s a crowd. 🙂Hemarie @ I Sweat Pretty recently posted..Wednesday

I ran the Disney Marathon for the first time last year and this year I am doing the Goofy Challenge. The miles of “nothing” did not bother me too much because most marathons have “miles of nothing.” It is hard to fill 26.2 miles with entertainment, but it looks like Disney is doing a good job with it this year.

I am a little worried about the congestion factor on the speedway and in Wide World of Sports though. By then crowds may be thinned out, but I can see people bunching up there.

Totally agree with you! I’ve run plenty of marathons that took me out on highways or interstates for miles on end. I’ve run the Disney Full only once in ’10. I started in the first corral, where there wasn’t any issue with crowds. BUT I’ve also run the princess half marathons for fun in later corrals that were super dense and crowded.